Federation Council okays agreement on child adoption with US

Similar agreements were concluded with Italy and France

MOSCOW, July 18 (Itar-Tass) — Federation Council, the upper house of Russian parliament, has ratified an agreement on cooperation in child adoption with the United States.

Similar agreements were concluded with Italy and France.

“The agreement’s ratification meets the interests of Russia and will help to create the mechanisms for effective protection of rights and legal interests of Russian children adopted by citizens of the United States,” an official from the Federation Council’s international affairs committee said.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry also welcomed the completion of a ratification process on this document.

“We realize that this agreement is not ideal, but it gives more grounds and starting points for cooperation with our U.S. partners to avoid recurrence of a series of tragic events related to adopted children from Russia,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who is in charge of Russian-U.S. relations, said.

This document creates the legal mechanisms that “will help us to get better understanding of what is going on and to cooperate with U.S. responsible bodies, including the U.S. Department of State and the agency that has a certificate for adoption,” he said.

The diplomat admitted that “in any case it will be better for us to have this agreement than not to have.”